What Makes Humans So Strange?
by Talos1988
Summary: Shepard is not truly human. She struggles with her nature and those around her. She wants to learn how to be human - but is this the right path for her? AU Mass Effect/StarCraft crossover - more details inside (I do suck at these things...) Rated M due to strong language, adult themes and strong violence.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Following the amazing reaction I got to the "teaser" chapter, this is a prologue to said chapter. This will replace the previous chapter for now - which will be edited to maintain continuity and re-posted in the future!

All items own by their respective owners – Bioware/EA and Blizzard.

Prologue

The station was attached to the side of a small asteroid. Scans had revealed that it was on minimal power, only a few heat signatures seemed to possibly be people. It was also revealed that part of the layout was shielded from scans; meaning they couldn't fully tell what the station was meant to used for.

It was unregistered; which probably meant it was built by pirates – though why they'd have an automated distress beacon was beyond him.

So all Lt. Anderson and his search and rescue team knew was that a general distress call had been sent out. Nothing more.

The darkness was pierced by an omni-tool light.

It was pre-fabricated and stale a stale grey; with only the red glow of emergency lights – some of which were gone or flickering – showing the way. The layout was simple; it was four floors in a flat figure of eight with rooms branching off. One long tube led away from the "bottom" of the eight to a separate docking bay (which was big enough for three medium-sized shuttles).

Anderson was leading a team of six marines in the advance party; with orders to secure entry to the docking bay, and then do a sweep of the area. So far it had gone smoothly, the bay was secured. Two of the marines were watching the sealed door to the tube.

One thing was off though.

A single shuttle was in the bay – on its side.

Facing it, Anderson wondered what the hell could've done such a thing. The right-side door was ripped clean off. A red smear, that might have been a person, coated the floor around the rent-off door.

The medical shuttle – which was bringing over ten more marines as well – was parking in the bay; its door sliding open before it had even settled.

"What the hell happened here?" A female voice called from the shuttle. Looking closer, it was Dr. Karin Chakwas, newly appointed as the lead medical officer on the Hungary.

"No idea Doctor." Anderson replied, keeping his rifle lowered. "I'll leave your four marines to keep you safe, the rest I'll split into two teams to secure the rest of the station and find any survivors."

Karin nodded before speaking. "Okay, don't take too long though; if we have serious wounds to treat I don't have my full gear with me."

"I know Doctor; we'll be a quick as we can." Her nodded at her and turned to face the lined up marines. A few hand signals and single words later he'd given everyone their orders.

The tube between the docking bay and the rest of the station was mostly clear, one section had evidence of small-arms fire but it was superficial damage at best.

However the entrance to the station proper was different. A body was draped over a desk; blood coated the wall and floor.

The body looked like it had been torn apart by a wild animal.

"Fuck me." One of the other marines gasped.

"Quiet." Anderson hissed. "Check your corners and keep an eye out; whatever did this could still be here."

Anderson signalled for them to move out, one team of six going to the left, and the rest going right with Anderson on point. The corridors were bland, no insignia on show so far. There was evidence of fighting in places; bullet impacts; bent metal.

But no more bodies yet.

Rounding the corner, Anderson saw a partly-obscured glass wall running the length of the corridor. Parts of the glass wall had been smashed, shards of glass crunched under their hardsuit boots. Another body was lying in what appeared to be offices.

This body was worse than the first – some of it appeared to have been _eaten_.

Chunks of flesh appeared to have been ripped away.

"Sir, we have found the remains of what appears to have been a mess-hall." Private Sachs called over the radio. "Something blasted part of the wall right off; a barrier is up but will fail soon without more power."

"Shit. Right, finish your sweep. Keep me posted and watch your six." Anderson clicked off as he got near to the body.

Something was _off_.

The level was clear. Two other bodies, both in the same state as the one Anderson had found. Even so, Anderson felt like he was being watched.

A floor down and Anderson was now worried. Whilst they'd found several more bodies, there was no real evidence of what had caused the deaths, or the wounds.

They had found a security station, from which they had been able to download about four days worth of video and audio files; he hoped that these would shed some light as to what was going on here.

One thing was clear however. This place was a laboratory and the area of the station that they had been unable to scan was… well, it was built like a prison. He had no idea what would warrant such a secure set-up but science wasn't really his thing anyway. Moving along from the security station he came across something, well, odd.

A splatter of blood that looked almost… purple.

Nothing else was out of place in the general area, so he took a quick sample to send results to Karin; hopefully she'd be able to identify what it was from. If she could it might give them an idea as to what they were up against.

A dull thump caught his attention; his omni-tool's light sweeping the area.

_Something_ moved out of sight to fast for him to follow.

"Shit, I've got something down here." Anderson spoke slowly and quietly into his radio. "Didn't get a good look at it, seemed humanoid; though I'm unsure…"

Something slammed into him from the side, sending his rifle spinning.

Rolling, he pushed himself to his feet, seeing a _shape_ disappear into the room behind him.

"Team; rally to me!" Anderson called out, backing towards his rifle.

Only to stop short, when he caught sight of a figure – of a woman? – who was crumpled by his weapon.

It dawned on him that the woman was clearly badly hurt.

And wasn't at all _human_.

He didn't move a muscle; the figure was trying to get up even though her right leg was clearly shattered.

"Lt Anderson!" Karin barked into his ear. "That sample you sent me. It is showing both and _Zerg_ DNA. Something here is very dangerous…"

"I know Karin; I'm looking right at her."

"What?!"

"There's a woman… she's badly hurt; possibly bleeding to death from a wound on her leg." He kept his voice low so as not to startle the figure.

"Oh god… I see your location. I'm coming down there; don't let her out of your sight!" Karin clicked off before he could reply.

"Keep her in my sight, right, easy as pie."

"Sir!" It was his team.

"Stay back!" He waved a hand at them; the figure flinched at his movement. "Don't crowd her."

It was a long few minutes before Karin could get to Anderson's position. When she did, it was a worrying sight. Anderson was standing a few feet away from a miracle.

The woman was, at first glance, mostly human with some clear differences. Bony tendrils draped over her head like hair; clawed hands, much like the talons of a Turian, flexed; patches of _armoured skin_.

The question was, was she hostile?

Her leg wound was terrible, so taking her down if she was shouldn't be that much of problem.

But the look on the woman's face… she was terrified.

She was also muttering to herself. To low for her to hear everything, so she moved slightly closer and the words she did hear made her blood freeze.

"Just an experiment." A pause for breath. "Expendable. Please make the pain stop. No more, please… please, don't hurt me… why are you doing this to me?"

The poor thing was hurt, terrified; an _experiment_.

Without warning the figure tried to move. Seeming to notice her audience for the first time, see tried to push her body upright.

Her leg snapped audibly and she fell to the ground again with a soul-rending cry of pain.

"Anderson, she's going to kill herself." She whispered. "We need to sedate her; to help her."

"What do you expect me to do?" Anderson didn't know what to make of the situation; but then, neither did she.

"I have a tranquiliser gun in my bag; watch her whilst I load it, I don't want to startle her."

"Roger that."

Karin knelt down slowly. In the half-light of the room the woman's eye _glowed_ purple.

"Please don't hurt me. I… don't hurt me; _please_!" She was begging; it was hard not to feel sorrow for her.

"I'm not going to hurt you dear; I'm going help you. But I need to be able to look at you to do so." Karin looked at her, right in the eye; trying not to flinch from the inhuman gaze.

"I just want the pain to stop…"

"I'm going to help you but I need to sedate you…" As Karin spoke she brought a needle into view.

The reaction was immediate. "NO NEEDLES!"

It was screamed so loud that everyone started in surprise.

"NO NEEDLES! NO NEEDLES! NO MORE PAIN!" As she was screaming the woman was pushing backwards, her ruined leg leaving a trail of blood and piece of bone.

Perhaps mercifully, Karin thought, the woman passed out from pain.

When the woman had passed out, Karin was able to get close enough to administer some painkillers and a sedative to keep her out whilst they moved her.

A stretcher was placed next to her and, with Anderson's help; they carefully lifted her onto it. Karin slowly inflated the supports to both keep her still and support _that_ wounded leg.

Moving carefully to the shuttle, she also got a closer look at the woman being carried. She was human and yet _not_. The bony tendrils on her head amazed her; they acted like hair but were quite solid – part of her couldn't wait to do a full scan and see exactly what was she was.

Then the woman's screams came to her. 'No needles; no more pain'. What had this woman been through?

A quick scan made her feel sick. Track sites for repeated injections; no wonder she hated needles…

She was part-Zerg. The question was, how much?

She'd had enough free will – seemingly – to beg from the pain to stop; but did that mean anything?

She would have to wait and see.

The med-bay on the Hungary was not really equipped to hold the woman – who was still sedated, so it wasn't yet clear if she considered herself female – if she reacted badly. For this reason Karin had – reluctantly – allowed the CO to place an armed guard in the room. She had also secured the wrists and un-injured leg with medical straps on a quick release; mostly to keep the injured woman safe more that anything. As for the injured leg, she'd secured it in a medical splint and put a series of inflatable barriers around the leg to hold it in place. These barriers also had tiny sensor spread along the lengths of them which allowed them to react to movement and, as such, not place undue stress on whichever wounded limb they were supporting.

As for the woman herself… well, the scans she had done – all none invasive of course – had shown quite a few astonishing things. Firstly, despite the mostly human appearance, the level of human to Zerg DNA was – very roughly – a 40/60 split in favour of the Zerg. This led her to believe that her body was still changing; she would know more if she could talk to her and view the – currently restricted – files recovered from the station itself. Secondly, the bone-like hair tendrils were constructed much-like human hair but with a small number of the larger ones filled with some kind-of organic… receiver. This was something else to check the files about; if she got to view the damn things. What was also clear was that the poor thing had been repeatedly injured deliberately – which she found sickening – going by the ligature marks and hairline marks showing previously broken bones. The pain that this person, this hybrid, must have been forced to endure…

A hybrid… Karin would've thought such a thing impossible if it wasn't before her eyes. Beyond her amazement in her even just _existing_, she was also a little frightened – more like terrified – of her; how much of Zerg was she? She had seen a few – selected – snippets of the security videos recovered from the station. The hybrid in front of her had killed quite a few people, very violently in fact. Though the medical evidence told her that it was more than warranted; if a marine had been tortured like this, well; the Alliance would have flattened anything to get justice.

Being that she was a hybrid she had no one to speak up for her. No one to defend her from the folly that whomever owned that station seemed to be instigating.

And what a station! It had such an array of scientific equipment that she would have liked to stay longer – if they weren't stained with the blood of this poor creature she might have liked to try to "procure" some of the equipment for the med-bay.

A bleeping from the holographic vitals monitor broke her from her chain of thought; oh, crap! She was waking up!

The room was fuzzy, unfamiliar. It certainly wasn't her cell or the testing room that was for sure. Shifting her weight, her right leg screamed in agony – which was nothing new; however the feeling of _safety_ that her leg gave her was indeed very _new_. Her eyes squeezed shut in an attempt to block the pain. Something seemed to be helping…

Forcing her eyes to open, the brightness of the place made her blink a few times before her eyes adjusted. It was most definitely _not_ that god-awful place. It was somewhere very new. Though the smell of a lab was still all around her… oh, no; another lab!

Fear gripped her hard; it forced her to try to move; only her limbs weren't obeying. Looking down she was secured to the bed. Secured – no! Never again!

She was about to call upon, well, whatever the strange powers she had were actually called she had no idea; when a person – a human woman – appeared at her side.

"Calm down please; the restraints are just to keep you from hurting yourself." The unknown figure leaned in closer as she spoke, something lit up over her closer hand; fearing for her life, she flinched backwards with a cry.

This seemed to make the woman jump back herself; she waved one hand to someone she couldn't quite see.

"No, its okay, she's just scared – the poor thing – I doubt she knows what an omni-tool is." The glowing _thing_ came a little closer. "It's okay my dear, I'm not going to hurt you."

She found her voice; which was raw and hurt when she spoke. "Why?"

"Why? What on earth do you mean?" Her expression told her that she was surprised that she could speak.

"Glowing thing used to hurt before." Her muscles tested the restraints; she could get out if she _really_ tried; though that would no doubt tire her out. "Used to shock me. Used to burn me."

The thing – an omni-tool the figure called it – pulled back as if _it_ was on fire. "Oh my god, that is _horrible!_" It winked out. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know." She turned away and came back with a grey and blue square lump. "Is this okay to use? It will do the same thing as I was going to do before."

"What you do?"

"You are still quite hurt; this little device will scan you to allow me to help you."

"Why you helping me?" Her voice was getting stronger – though it still hurt – she was having trouble forming words in her mind however.

"Because I'm a doctor – it is my job." The woman said with pride and kindness. "What has been done to you is… it is so _wrong_ I cannot form the words to express it." A cool pink hand was placed upon her own (purple-tinged, armoured and clawed) left one. Such a touch... it was like nothing she had ever felt before.

It caused her to gasp and stare at the hand.

"Are you alright?" Confusion had arrived on the doctor's face.

"I… I-I've never been _touched_ before." She looked away, feeling a few tendrils brush her cheek. "At least, never a nice touch, usually only to hit or to push."

"Fuck…" The other figure shook his head – clearly a guard going by the armour and gun. "That's fucking sick. I mean, she's clearly intelligent – completely sentient – how the hell could they do this to her?" His scent was fear of her but with mixed in with something else… something she could not name.

"I couldn't question them…"

"I know that dear; it was never your fault." The woman gave her a small squeeze; it felt surprisingly _nice_.

"I'll let Anderson know that she's awake." The man spoke, his gun folded up and it stuck to his armour with small clunk.

"Please do, though let him, and the Captain, know she is still weak. They can talk to her when I give her the all-clear."

"Yes ma'am." He turned and moved to the other side of the room.

"What is your name dear?" The woman took her hand back the small scanner emitted a blue light over her leg.

"Name? I don't understand… I don't know what you mean." She frowned at the woman.

"You don't know what a name is?" She shook her head. "Okay, well I'm Karin…" The woman pointed to herself. "…did they call you anything?" The pointing went to her.

"No, not that I can… wait, yes, sometimes some of them called me Subject 47."

"_Subject 47?_" The woman – Karin's – voice rose sharply. "There were 46 people before you?"

"I don't think so… I heard one of the say that I was the only one to live." She blew a tendril out of her face when she looked back at the wom-at Karin.

"My god…" Karin sat down on a stool; water – like when she was young and they hurt her – pooled in Karin's eyes. "That… that's horrific."

"I don't know anything else about it…"

"Don't worry, I…" She broke off as water leaked from her eyes. "Oh dear, excuse me."

"Why is water coming from your eyes? Are you hurt?" She tilted her head at Karin with a frown.

"What? No, I'm upset." She frowned again not understanding. "Oh god… I feel sadness for what you've been through. This sadness has made me cry." She pointed to her eyes. "Have you ever cried?"

"Before, when I was small, when the pain got too much; they hurt me worse when I wasted water though. They didn't call it 'cry'."

"Oh my god…" Karin gasped out then stopped; suddenly she was leaning over her, her arms taking her in an embrace. "It is over now my dear; no one will hurt you ever again."

A few days passed with her stuck in the bed – though the restraints had been removed – her leg was healing quickly but she still ached pretty much all over. Hell, even some of her hair tendrils ached!

It was extremely odd to not have to constantly be on guard for the "next test". Karin was always fussing over her, talking to her; just simply being _there_ for her. Even a few times when she'd woken up not sure where she was, Karin was there. Holding her; being patient with her. She could not thank her enough.

Little things still made her terrified that something _bad_ was going to happen. Whether it was a creak from the bulkheads of the ship she was on; something clacking against the wall or floor; people rushing into the med-bay.

Karin called her skittish – whatever that meant – with a small laugh, and told her not to worry as much; no one was going to hurt her. Even so, she couldn't help be nervous. Everything was so _new_ to her.

It took a little bit of convincing, but Karin also got her access to the extranet via a datapad – which she to be shown how to use. It was only when Karin took the pad from her that she got some sleep that day, having spent most of the day reading. Learning and evolving. Being that everything was so new, she had also asked Karin at least a hundred – perhaps more – questions based on things that she had read.

The marine – Lt Anderson – that she had first seen on the station had come by once to visit her. He seemed glad that she was okay; a little wary around her – unsurprising, going the fact that she had tried to hurt him before – but he was mostly happy to see her getting better.

She had also had the CO of the ship, a scary woman called Captain Jun; speak to her for a short while earlier. This woman was not a kind as Karin or Anderson – or that guard, who she still didn't know the name of, who was an almost constant figure in the med-bay – but she did have a vessel to run. Whatever the reason, she preferred Karin.

The human herself was currently scanning her leg again – with her omni-tool for the first time – muttering to no one about her amazing healing rate.

"Have you thought any more about a name for yourself?" Karin asked when she'd finished.

"A little… though I must admit I'm a little thrown by the concept of names being suitable for one gender and not the other."

Karin gave a small laugh. "I guess that could get confusing."

"I just don't have any… basis on what to choose. I'll try to get it down to a few choice names when I can." She shifted, wincing at a flare of pain in her leg. "How is my leg doing?"

"No too badly. The bone should be mostly fused by the end of tomorrow." Karin patted her shoulder. "We will soon be arriving at that facility Captain Jun mentioned; you should get proper care there."

"Will you be there?"

"I don't know; it depends on where the Alliance decides to send me."

She knew that her face had twisted into disappointment. "Really? I don't… I don't trust many people at the moment. You, Anderson and possibly the guard are the only ones." She looked away, watching the readout of her vitals on the nearby holographic screen.

"I know but the truth of the matter is, we don't understand what you are; and for this reason they're afraid of you."

"Afraid of me?"

"Yes, some of us have seen what you are capable of – on that station – and worry that you are a danger." Karin reached out and tilted her chin so she was facing her. "I was terrified of you at first."

"I still am terrified. All I've known for, who knows how many years, is terror and pain. I just want it to stop."

"I know you do my dear." Karin coughed slightly. "I'm sorry to have to bring this up, but, well; some of the bodies recovered from that station were… _eaten_."

She felt fear grip her again. "I could not help it! My Zerg side…"

"You ate them? What ever for?" Karin's face contorted between disgust, fear and confusion.

"I'm mostly Zerg, Karin. One of the driving forces behind The Swarm is to consume." She looked away, pulling her chin out of Karin's fingers. "I was hurt; scared and hungry. I had no choice but to give into my… _nature_." The final had a surprising amount of venom behind it.

"Good god… I guess I should have realised that some of your more alien habits would… that I would find them disagreeable."

Her fear had risen and become _terror_. "Karin… I…"

"I don't hold it against you. I don't _agree_ with it…"

"Please Karin, I had no choice! I-I'm trying so hard not to be a monster! Please!" She was now crying for the first time in… in who knew how long.

"You regret it?"

"I… no, I cannot find it within me to forgive them for I've been through." Her voice had cracked, emotions she didn't _understand_ entering her mind. "I don't like it. Not because it isn't human; I'm not human!" A flare of power flashed in her eyes unbidden. "I can never regret consuming their essence; they had taken mine."

"My dear, I understand – I think anyway – I believe you. No that is wrong; I know what you so say to be true." Karin placed a hand on her shoulder. "The problem is that we don't know what to make of you; we don't understand you."

"I don't understand humans either." She sniffed, rubbing her eyes with a clawed hand.

"That is why we need to work together, to work things out."

"No tests?"

"No invasive tests, yes." Karin swallowed. "We will have to keep an eye on you, to make sure that you are okay. We don't want you to eat something that kills you for example."

"Okay… okay." She looked at Karin. "I will try to co-operate but… I'm terrified."

"I know my dear, I know."

They had arrived at another medical facility about a week ago. She was still mostly alone; Karin had managed to convince – who she called – "the Alliance brass" to allow her to stay as she trusted her (which was true).

Anderson had been there for the first couple of days. Then duty had called him away. She did miss him a little; the human was honest to her.

As for the facility itself, it was under a large dome on a planet Karin had called Mars. It was fairly open; she was allowed to wander – in a wheelchair at the moment, due to her leg still being weak – around a fair space without escort. Though some areas were closed off; either for security or safety reasons.

For her, and others, safety she was being kept separate from other patients. Karin had told that she was unique and because of that she might have germs that could kill the injured. When they had figured out more of her biology then she might be allowed to go around.

In terms of security, Karin had explained that – also because she was the only known one of her kind – that they wanted to keep her safe; keep her _alive_.

Whilst being grateful, she was also still wary.

At least Karin had been true to her word; so far the only tests had been scans and a few tiny scrapings of her claws (and an equally tiny flake of both her normal skin and from the armoured patches). They had compared these to the files that they had "reclaimed" from the station that had been her home; her cell. She was unaware of the reason, or the results of this, though.

She had allowed this as, if she was honest with herself, she wanted to know more about her nature as well.

One huge thing – especially for her – was that she had chosen a name; which the person who had taken it down had gotten wrong. That said, she actually liked the wrong name better!

She had asked for her name to be recorded as Mia Sol.

The man – who had been frightened of her – had (somehow!) mistyped it as Mal Sal.

Honestly, she didn't mind. Silently even thanking the man for the mistake.

When Karin heard the story she had found it quite hilarious and giggled uncontrollably for quite a while – eventually having had to wipe tears away. She – _Mia_ – had also found it so… stupid that she'd joined in with the laughter – which had gained them a few odd looks from the medical staff around them.

The main thing was though; she now had a _name_.

About two months dragged by with Mia trying to learn more aspects of humanity – and failing to grasp some things, humour for one. Karin had made a joke… well; it went down like a ton of bricks as Mia could only stare at her in confusion.

Humour was clearly something she wasn't built for…

In terms of the medical facility itself – which she had learnt was called Prospect 1 – she was now walking (and running) fine. Karin had told her to be careful and not strain herself too much, but it should be fine.

Mia was also now allowed to use the gym on site. Whilst she had to be careful with some things due to her claws, for the most part she could use all the machines and weights in said gym. She had also freaked out a few marines on physical workout programmes when she first walked in – escorted by Karin and few marines (who were there to instruct her, not guard). One had dropped his dumbbell upon seeing her – which she caught with her not-quite-biotics-but-like-biotics.

In fact she had been called away from the gym about six hours ago, back to her personal quarters – one door down from Karin's – due to the arrive of a transport carrying wounded soldiers. Karin had told her that pirates – possibly slavers – had attacked a human colony called Mindoir. She looked downright saddened by the news, tearing up a pictures from a report- which being military, she wasn't allowed to see, not being military herself – causing her to hug her.

Karin hugged back, though it had Karin asking _why_ Mia had hugged her.

Mia had simply replied that Karin had hugged her when she was crying and upset; it only seemed fair to return the favour.

This had Karin embracing her again with a small laugh and very broad smile.

Of course Mia understood the reason why she was being asked to stay away from the arrivals – she was a hybrid and as they still did not understand her completely, the less people that knew about her the better. She had to agree with this; she didn't want to have a powerful human to decide that she would look better on his or her dissection table.

Before Karin rushed off to assist with the wounded, Mia caught a few words from Karin's side of a conversation. Some Alliance navy officers were injured when their vessel was struck by an enemy fighter. They were also being transferred to "The Prospect" as the facility was known.

Now though, she was getting bored. While she did have rudimentary access to the outside world, via the extranet and various movie vids; she had now run out of things to look up and had watched all the vids provided.

Now she was sitting on her bed, quite literally, twiddling her thumbs.

Mia wanted to contact Karin, to ask if it was okay to come see her, or go to the gym; _anything_.

Yet, at the same time, she didn't want to interrupt her if she was busy saving lives.

Making her mind up, she typed a quick message to Karin; having to put on some gloves with sensors in the finger – claw – tips.

{_Karin, sorry to bother you. Extremely bored just sitting here – is their anything I can do to help, or will I just get in the way? If I cannot help; is the gym free?_}

Fortunately she didn't have to wait long.

{_Mia, we're on a quick break at the moment. Still have a few hours of surgery ahead of me. Sorry but it is best if you stay away. I will ask about the gym for you; hold on a few minutes._}

She sat nervously flicking her hair tendrils out of her face; she needed to figure out how to pin them back, since cutting them was not an option – damn that smooth, silky hair that humans had!

{_Mia, I've good news! Some of the local guards are heading to the gym and I have got you clearance to meet them there. It's Lt Jose and his group, you know, the ones that are teaching you how to control your powers. If you head straight there they will be there. Sorry about not being there. Karin._}

{_Karin – thank you! I was going crazy just sitting here! I'm heading to the gym now, I might forget to message when I get there!_}

Grabbing her gym bag she nearly forgot to remove the gloves – which she got through quite quickly thanks to her claws. She didn't run down the corridors, she did "power-walk" as Anderson had called it. A few doctors saw her and greeted her – one joking that she spent more time in the gym than sleeping. She laughed along with them even though she didn't truly see why it was funny.

When she got to the gym, Lt Jose and a few others were already there, warming up with a few biotic throws at holographic – and some real – training dummies. The Lt was a human male and a lithe biotic; her was helpful teaching her breathing exercises to help focus her abilities. Whilst her abilities were not truly biotics, the process of using them was similar enough that it still helped.

Plus he didn't seem to mind that she wasn't human, treating her like a raw recruit at first; until her realised that her strength – both physically and in ability – was greater than all three biotics in the base put together. Then he switched to trying to get her to control her power, to focus it; make it work for her.

He was helping, plus the barriers that he'd been teaching her to generate could be useful in the future.

Moving into the room, he called out a greeting to her. Jose was darker skinned than Karin, though less so than Anderson… she would have to ask Karin about that sometime.

Smiling, she tossed her gym bag down near a seat, swinging her arms out wide she called back. "Lt! Fancy a sparring match with me?"

"Close combat or biotics?"

"How about we warm up with biotics, and then have a little close combat?" She tilted her head at him.

"Sounds good to me; though watch those claws of yours, you gave me a few nasty scratches last time!" Jose was still smiling; he knew it wasn't her fault, she was still getting used to how much damage human skin could take. Her own was quite a lot tougher.

"Of course; sorry about last time…"

"Ah, don't worry about it; not your fault." He shrugged, gesturing towards the training dummies. "Shall we?"

"You're on!"

Captain Hannah Shepard was tired and angry. She was XO on a vessel that had responded to the attack on Mindoir and it had left her sick to her stomach. To make matters worse her husband, Ben, had been seriously hurt groundside.

Right now, since he was in surgery and she couldn't see him, she just wanted to punch something; it was time to visit a punch-bag and thankfully The Prospect had a gym – complete with several rows of just what she wanted.

To her surprise however, the gym had two guards stationed outside the entrance. They didn't appear to have orders to stop her from going in, they saluted as she approached. Then one of them spoke.

"Ma'am, you might not want… might not want to go in there right now. Lt Jose and Mia are having a little competition."

"Competition?"

"Right, sorry ma'am, you just got here." The right one spoke – a private. "Mia is very powerful; last time she was in there she ripped a rowing machine up without meaning to…"

"Who is this, Mia?" She frowned at them as they glanced at each other.

"Well, err…"

"She's clear to go in private." A familiar voice called from behind her.

Turning she saw that it was David Anderson. "David, how good to see you!"

"Likewise, Hannah." He gave a quick salute, his face was serious. "You might be in for a shock though." He nodded towards the door.

She followed him in, seeing the tell-tale glow of biotics to the right; four figures on a mat; sparring. "What ever do you…" She stopped mid-sentence.

That woman's hair!

She stopped in her tracks as well; it was… it was bone!

Anderson gave a small chuckle. "I told you that you'd be in for a shock."

Three men were advancing on the bone-haired woman, who she could see had her eyes closed. One of the men, with markings of a Lt. on his vest-top, launched a biotic punch at her.

The unknown woman simply caught his fist; biotics boomed slightly. Her eyes were still closed.

She pulled him towards her, clothes-lining the unfortunate man and sending him spinning. Another roundhouse kicked her from behind – unsporting, she thought – but the woman only staggered half-a-step before seizing the leg and throwing the man aside. The last one used her distraction to hit her across the jaw with a biotic punch. The boom made her wince.

This blow spun her around; but it didn't stop her. Her leg shot out as she turned, striking the man in the stomach, doubling him over. She regained her balance quickly and palmed the man's back, driving him to the mat with loud thump.

She had taken them down with ease. Three biotics – that had been hitting her with biotically-enhanced blows – and she'd floored them in moments. The biotics had not meant anything.

"Amazing, isn't she." Anderson spoke from next to her. "I was part of a team that rescued her from a rogue group of scientists."

"What _is_ she?" Hannah could barely get her voice over a whisper; she didn't want to piss this woman off!

"Mia's a Zerg/human hybrid."

"_Zerg?_" She looked at him sharply. "You know how dangerous they are; think of what happened before we discover the relay network, the Protoss were practically wiped out by them!"

"She's not dangerous Hannah; in fact, when we found her she was terrified of _us_." David smiled at her. "Just meet her; speak to her. You'll find she's not that alien."

"How powerful is she?"

"Very, what you just saw is her holding back; if she wanted to, she could easily gut Lt Jose and his men." David brought a hand and waved his fingers. "Clawed hands you see, very dangerous when the mood takes her."

"Only when I'm not told that the dummies cannot take it!" A blur moved past her and collided with David – she yelped in surprise, looking around in worry.

Only to see, to her great surprise – and joy – that the hybrid had seized David in a _hug_ of all things.

"Anderson; I missed you!" The hybrid – Mia as David had called her was nearly shouting. "Where the hell have you been?!"

"On duty Mia, couldn't come see you and I only learnt earlier today that you're contactable now."

The hybrid pouted – actually fucking _pouted_. "They only told you today?"

"Yeah, but I've been very busy, so probably wouldn't have gotten the messages anyway."

She let him go from the hug and up close Hannah could see that her eyes were faintly glowing purple. The hair wasn't hair at all; it was tendrils; some of which were quite long and thick – about as thick as her wrist. Her face looked human, though she could see a few patches of clearly Zerg armour. And her hands had fucking _claws!_

It took her a moment to realise that the hybrid was staring at her to. "Who are you?" She tilted her head, some of the tendrils draped down over her shoulder.

"I-I'm Captain Shepard, XO of the SSV Kilimanjaro; it's nice to meet you." Damn, her voice was breaking.

The hybrid smiled, showing of slightly sharper looking than normal teeth. "I'm Mia Sal – no last name – science experiment." Her tone was friendly and her – _clawed_ – hand extended.

Hannah paused, the claws put her off, but she took the hand anyway. It was different from a normal human, the armoured skin of her palm was rough to touch; but it didn't cut her or anything like she was expecting. The shake showed off the woman's strength; if the grip was much firmer she could've crushed her hand!

Which Mia appeared to have noticed. "Sorry! Still getting used to my strength. Karin tells me that I need to be careful, but I keep forgetting." The hybrid – the woman, she corrected herself – looked ashamed.

"It's okay. I'm sorry to; I'm a little freaked out…"

"Tell me about it! I'm keeping away from most people here so _I_ don't freak them out; but to be honest, I'm kinda freaked out by humans sometimes." Mia had a grin on her face, a tendril was brushed away. "I don't mean any offence; it's just… difficult at times."

"Difficult; how so?" Hannah asked, as David moved to talk to the biotics; who didn't seem that worse for the beating they took.

"How much do you know about me?"

"Nothing at all; I only found out about you when I walked in."

"Oh, well, if you're with Anderson I guess its okay to tell you." Mia took a step back. "I was grown in a lab. I've been tortured; raped and experimented on for 16 years."

Hannah could not help the gasp and open-mouth expression she had for a moment. "Oh, fuck me…" She managed to gain control after a moment. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry."

"I killed all I could when I got free; some got away." Mia closed her eyes and looked down. "I know this as they told me; they have footage of some of them fleeing the station where I was kept."

"That's… that's horrible…"

"I think I must process things differently than humans; I _feel_ the hurt that what I've been through caused me, but I have trouble _understanding_ it." Her eyes opened, the glow had gotten brighter. "I hate them more than anything…"

"I understand why you would." Hannah glanced at Anderson. "How are you coping?"

"With what happened to me – not so well, better than before; I have potentially got a future now." A very weak smile had crept onto her features. "I'm still a little scared of humans though. I mean, I know that the ones did created me are not like every human out there; but it is hard at times to not think that way. Karin… Karin is like the mother I never had. She's in surgery at the moment; saving lives. Without her, I'd probably be an animal at best."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm mostly Zerg. I have _urges_ that come from that side of me." The look of shame was back. "When I escaped I was badly hurt, my right leg was snapped in two. I was in so much pain that I resorted to instinct – Zerg instinct. I consumed some of the bodies."

"You consumed…" Hannah searched her knowledge of the Zerg, recalling something she'd been told, her face paled. "You _ate_ them?"

Mia looked away and her voice had gone quiet. "I'm not proud of it. But I had no choice; it was either eat or die. I choose to live." She sniffed, clearly very upset. "I don't know why I'm telling you this…"

"Its okay; really, I cannot judge you. I have no idea what going through what you have is like. Besides, I'm sure having conflicting human and Zerg desires isn't the easiest thing to deal with." Hannah puts her hand on Mia's shoulder.

"Thanks." The hybrid's mouth jerks in a small smile. "And you're right, sometimes it is so _confusing_! Not to mention that I don't understand some things about humans either."

"Like what?"

"Its odd, but I don't get humour, for one thing. Jokes just go right over my head!"

Hannah cannot help the small chuckle. "That isn't that odd really, given you past."

Suddenly the intercom made them both jump. {_Captain Shepard, please report to reception; Admiral Hackett has arrived to speak to you._}

"Damn it didn't even get to punch something like I came here for." Hannah muttered to herself; Mia frowns at her. "It's nothing, don't worry. Hopefully I'll speak to later."

"I would like that."

A/N: Okay, first part of the prologue finished! Another chapter will be posted as soon as I can get around to writing it. Currently working on the next chapter for my other story at the moment – whilst balancing ideas for the next part of this; making it a little hard on myself but I like the challenge!

All being well the next chapter of my other story should be up by the weekend, then I'll shift back to this for a while.

Thanks for all the support!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Right, sorry for the long delay in getting this chapter out. I hit writers block hard and struggled for a long time to get things going again. I think it's starting to get back to me. I hope anyway! Also, I must thank everyone who's been waiting for this and those I'd been having discourses with in PM (Achronus especially, with the epic idea bouncing that took place a while ago now!).

I'm going to be concentrating on this for a while, due to losing a ton of info (including my plot notes – insert swearing here) on my solely ME story. Which is currently on the back foot, in terms of my writing, as I try to recover info and previous chapters. Anyway, onto the much-delayed chapter! Any errors are mine and all universes are owned by their respective companies!

I've also tried to add line-breaks to this, I'm unsure if this has actually worked though - I clicked save and it seemed to revert back to it's previous format...

* * *

Prologue – Part 2

Not long after this 'Hannah' left the gym, Mia realised that she was getting hungry and needed to talk to Anderson. Looking at the other people in the room, Anderson was still talking to the biotics; she unsure whether to approach him or not.

Have to get it over with sometime, she thought. "Anderson?"

He looked over at her. "Yes Mia?"

"Can I have a word when you're free?"

He frowned but nodded. "Sure, I'll just say goodbye here; are you okay?"

"I think so… I just need to talk."

"Okay, be with you in a minute."

She nodded and watched him for a moment before gathering up her things and stuffing them unceremoniously into her gym bag. It was then she noticed that Hannah had left her own bag in her rush.

No doubt thrown by her conversation with me, she thought to herself.

Of course Mia could understand the human woman's position, seeing she was herself a stranger to the people here. She grabbed it and took it with her; it would give her another excuse to talk to someone other than Karin and the doctors.

"You wanted to talk Mia?" It was Anderson; he had a look of worry on his face.

"Yeah, can we talk in my room?"

"Sure."

The walk took a short while in silence. She knew that Anderson was worried about what she had to say – even more so since she'd requested the relative privacy of her granted quarters.

When they arrived she flicked her hand over the lock and let Anderson enter first. Her gym bag was tossed onto the bed. The room was quite small but better furnished than her last one. To right was taken up by a three-seat sofa and the datapad that allowed her – restricted – access to the extranet. The wall straight ahead was a window, it didn't open, but it showed a view over part of the base and out onto the red of the planets surface. A single bed poked out into the room from the left wall, it had a wooden side table to one side and some medical equipment on the other. Next to the door was a tiny desk at which she ate most days. A few pictures graced the walls, though these were not her choices – they were there when she had moved in. And next to the desk was a tiny partitioned off washroom.

Mia wished that she could've changed the wall colour; the pale blue – to being almost off-white – had gotten dull. That said it was better than the cell and its even staler grey.

Mia gestured to the sofa, which she placed Hannah's bag next to, on which Anderson plonked himself down onto. "I have a problem Anderson."

"A problem?" His voice was testing; worried.

She sighed, unsure as how to proceed. "Damn it, this was easier in my head." He looked like he was about to speak, so she held up a hand. "It's just… I'm worried about my future."

"What do you mean?"

"Even though Karin has told me I'm safe…"

"You fear that you won't be in the future."

She nodded, perching on the end of her bed. "I'm mean, I _know_ that Karin wouldn't let them – whoever 'them' is – take me without a fight; but she's just one woman."

"I… I understand your fear." Anderson folded his hands together. "I know that Admiral Hackett is here to make a decision about you." He had clearly seen her look of confusion-come-fear. "I doubt he would send you away Mia, he's seen the files we took from that station. He – and the rest of The Brass – they're more worried that you will become a danger to _us_ than anything…" He trailed off slightly.

"I see their view… I don't like it; but I see it..." Mia ran a clawed hand through her tendrils. "Damn it. I still have trouble trusting people; even here."

"How so?"

"Well, I trust Karin, no question about that." She pushed of the bed and started to pace the room. "It's just… little things. The access to the extranet I have is clearly filtered – there're no _dates_ on the news; even the information links, some are blocked. All the movies are the same; I request new ones and get stuff that seems _old_. I mean, what the hell is up with the film Star Wars? While that film was great, don't get me wrong, it just…"

"Mia, I have a confession to make."

She whirled to face him, feeling her hair tendrils flare. "A confession?"

"Yes, there is no easy way to say this. We have been hiding your real age from you." He looked away for a moment. "You're not 16, not even close. They used some hyper-growth thing on you; you are only about four years old at most."

Mia felt her surprise grow; she could _feel_ her eyes glowing. "WHAT?"

"I'm sorry; we felt it best to keep it from you until we knew how you'd react." His voice had shame in it.

That didn't stop her anger from spilling out. "What the hell Anderson!? You don't think I should have known about this?" She had to start pacing again, her anger had risen and she didn't _want_ to hurt him. "Did Karin know?"

"Yes, but…"

"Karin _knew!_" She screamed in fury. "Oh god… It's happening again isn't it…"

"What is happening again?"

"You're all keeping things from me, keeping me contained…"

"No! Fuck no!" Anderson stood and approached her; even knowing that she could lash out. "Listen to me! We didn't know if we could trust _you_! We were worried that you might be able to call upon the Zerg; bring your kin crashing down upon us!"

"I…"

His voice lowered and had softened before he spoke again. "Look, I'm sorry and Karin only found out herself earlier today."

"I thought that she was in surgery today?"

"She was for most of the day. When you were talking with Hannah she'd been called into a meeting that… that you aren't meant to know about."

She took a step away from him. "What meeting? What is going on?"

"Hackett is here because the Council found out about you." She knew a few things about the Council from the data she had been provided, and her eyes widened in shock. "The Admiral is here to give the Alliance's 'judgement' on you." He made some funny air gestures with hands on the word judgement.

"Give judgement… I don't understand." Mia truly didn't, whilst she understood the words, the context was lost on her.

"Admiral Hackett is going to speak to you later; once he's spoken with all here who know you." He paused for a second. "Then he'll pass his findings onto the Council, who will then probably send someone else to get their own view."

Though her anger wasn't gone entirely, it had now been replaced mostly by fear yet again. "What do you mean by findings?"

"Well, when the Council found out about you – other than being annoyed we hadn't told them sooner – they wanted to know everything about you. They wanted to know if you are, or would be, a threat."

"What did you tell them?"

"I didn't tell them anything; it was Hackett who told our ambassador, Udina." He gestured at her datapad. "I'll get this unlocked for you; you need to know more about the way the galaxy works."

"What happens if this admiral doesn't like what he finds? What happens to me then?" Mia swiped a hand through the air. "I mean, I'm not human; I'm not part of the Alliance or any other species that is considered friendly. I'm Zerg!"

"Not entirely…"

"You think that will matter to some people? The people who made me were human; and they made me sentient – did that stop them from torturing me? Did that stop the Alliance from keeping something from me?"

"The honest answer is that I don't know Mia; I really do not know."

* * *

Things had gone downhill for her in less than an hour, Mia thought to herself. She'd had to ask Anderson to leave; her anger was getting the better of her and didn't want to hurt him by accident.

Part of her wanted to rend and tear; part of her was screaming! It took almost all of her will power to suppress this urge; which she knew came from the Zerg side of her.

Right now she had to calm down and for her the best way to do this was the gym. Normally she'd check that it was okay but, right now, she didn't care.

She did take out the dirty towels and threw them to one side, replacing them with new ones. Whilst she didn't sweat like humans, she did copy the gesture of wiping her brow off; she felt that it helped her to connect slightly; whether it actually did help was another matter entirely, and one she wasn't that bothered about. With Hannah's bag, she placed it on the sofa and sent a quick message to Karin about it – hoping that she'd be able to catch the other human and let her know.

She also let her know how she felt.

Not waiting for a reply, she dumped the pad next to the bag and left her room.

* * *

{_Subject's name recorded as Mia Sal; hence forth in this meeting it – _she_ – will be referenced as such._} Karin watched Admiral Hackett speak into the holographic recording tool on the table. The room was very… tense at the moment.

Other than herself and Admiral Hackett, there was also the human ambassador – who had come from the Citadel – Udina, Captain Hannah Shepard (who had met with Mia earlier it turned out) and two representatives from the Council.

Udina, she'd already decided, was an asshole, until she'd nearly swore at him he had refused to call Mia by her name; referring to her simply as "It" or "That". He seemed to only relent because if the impression he wanted to create in front of the Council's representatives.

The representatives themselves had arrived just after Hackett and Udina; one was a scary-looking Turian whose heavy armour ad guns looked quite imposing. She had been introduced to him briefly, his name was Nihlus – no clan-name was forthcoming – and he was a Spectre. The other was quite attractive asari, she wasn't armed or armoured that she could see, and in fact she was wearing a dress that could almost be called scandalous; if it had been on a human anyway. She had introduced herself as Doctor Risa L'Sar – which caused a start of recognition for Karin; Doctor L'Sar's work was on Zerg. Or more specifically, her work was on their genetic make-up and how this affected the "hive-mind" of the Swarm.

Karin had read some of it when trying to figure out how to deal with Mia.

As it turned out, most of it had been correct in terms of how Mia's DNA worked; though mentally she was quite different from a normal Zerg, so that was quite off.

{_Let it be recorded that the first meeting between Alliance and Council representatives started at 4:47pm – galactic-standard time – to discuss the hybrid know as Mia Sal._} Hackett spoke again into the recorder. {_The full date and time is as follows: 17__th__ April 2170 CE, 4:48pm meeting begins._}

Whilst Karin understood the need for formality, she did not understand why they had to record everything.

"Okay, we have all read the briefing packet on Mia's origin; therefore the first thing that we should – as you humans say – clear up, is very simple – and yet probably the most important – does she have a mental connection to the other Zerg?" Doctor L'Sar asked, folding her arms under her – quite considerable – chest.

"I believe I can answer that Doctor." Karin leaned forward slightly. "Yes, she does have a connection to the rest of the Swarm; however she doesn't yet understand it and has actively been avoiding exploring it."

"Why is that?" Nihlus spoke, his flanged voice surprisingly soft.

"Well, quite frankly, Mia isn't sure of herself yet." Karin brought up a video file of Mia's first attempt at punching a training dummy; which turned into a clawing. "As you can see she reacts quite badly at first…" The video showed her stepping backwards, facing showing fear and surprise at her strength. "…that said she is mentally very stable. I think that the reason she is avoiding contacting – if that is the right word – the Swarm because she fears that she will like what she finds."

"I'm sorry; what the hell does that mean?" Udina was still fuming about their earlier argument it seemed.

"Well, simply put, Mia is between two worlds; part of her is human, part of her is Zerg. For her there is a conflict between the two." Karin sighed. "Mia is scared of both sides of herself – even if she won't admit it, I've gotten close enough to her to be able to figure her out a bit."

"You mean that, due to the torture she was put through, she doesn't know whether or not joining the rest of her kin is the right thing to do?" Dr L'Sar placed one hand on the table as Karin nodded. "I think that's quite understandable, given what she's had to endure." The hand swiped across the table. "Which could also lead to a few problems itself; what is she decides that she does, in fact, like the Zerg better?"

"While she certainly has an ingrained understanding of the Zerg, she is learning." Karin smiled slightly. "She wants to learn; to evolve as she put it."

Nihlus snorted, mandibles flared. "That is worrying, if she wants to evolve then how do we know she won't take what she needs from us and…"

"Because I trust her!" Karin cut in. "Sorry but she's still, basically, just a scared child. She might bit different from us but, to me at least, that means nothing."

Nihlus didn't mind the interruption. "I see that you care for her greatly and I personally feel – without speaking to her and forming my own impressions of course – that this could be used to keep her in check."

Karin was about to spill over at Nihlus' words but Captain Shepard beat her to it. "Now hold on a moment! I may've only met her for a few minutes but she was very honest with me; I got to look her in the eye and see who she is."

"What does your firsthand experience tell you?" Nihlus asked.

"Well, firstly, she is finding this whole thing harder than she's letting on. Mia deflected a question about herself off onto her not understanding humour." The Captain had a smile on her face. "I'll admit I was quite scared of her a first but once I actually _talked_ to her, well; she was quite friendly. Plus she hugged Anderson – I mean, Lt. Anderson – and complained about not hearing from him for a while! While I'm not saying let her have the run of the base – going by the files I've read, we still don't know enough about potential problems with bacteria that she might be carrying, and this _is_ a medical facility – but to me she seemed like a nice girl."

"A nice girl – pah! – She's got tentacles for hair! Err, nor offence Doctor." Udina nearly spat. "You've both waxed lyrical about how nice she is, but you've avoided one thing; she ate people on that station."

To Karin's surprise, Doctor L'Sar spoke up first. "Of course she did; she's mostly Zerg!" When Udina looked at her blankly she continued. "Mia was badly injured during her attempt to escape that station; for her consuming the DNA – the essence – of some of those in her way would not only help her regenerate from the wounds; but it would also allow her to fulfil her desire to 'evolve'." She made quotation marks over the word evolve. "Zerg all have an innate… desire you could call it, to improve the Swarm. Now to us we simply see them attacking a destroying, while the simple truth is this; to them, they're improving – evolving – the Swarm for their greater good."

"That doesn't make it right." Udina grumped, he'd folded his arms.

"No it doesn't but she had no choice." Dr. L'Sar spoke again. "Under normal circumstances she would have been able to gorge herself on more… palatable… food sources. Though, as you saw in the reports, the mess hall and its stores had been blown into space; she did want she had to, to survive."

Karin partly stopped listening as it went backward and forwards for quite a long time; she had started to get a terrible headache and was also quite hungry, when Admiral Hackett called the meeting to a close.

Nihlus and Dr. L'Sar would be meeting with Mia tomorrow and then final discussions would take place soon after.

She knew that nothing had been decided, but she was getting worried for Mia and her potential reaction.

Karin left the meeting feeling a little down, absently turning on her omni-tool to check for messages as Anderson approached her. She had three messages; two were automated updates on her patient (neither of which contained anything that required her attention) and one from Mia.

Who seemed to be slightly angry going by the tone of message. {_I hear that my future is being discussed without me? This is not what I hoped! Plus your people are keeping things from me! They didn't think that I needed to know that I'm only about 4 fucking years old! What the hell is going on!_

_I'm off to the gym to hit things until my head clears. It's probably best you keep your people away from me for a while with my current mood._

_P.S. That Captain Hannah left her bag in the gym; I've put on the sofa._}

"Shit." She muttered to herself, Mia had found out about things at the worst possible time! Though she did agree with Mia that they shouldn't have been keeping from her; that was not the way to keep her on their side!

"Karin, look we might have a problem…" Anderson started to speak to her.

She clicked on how Mia how found some things out. "You spoke to her about this?" She gestured at the meeting room; the man nodded. "I agree with her message; she has every right to be angry!"

"I know Karin, I told her about her age and the meeting because I felt that going behind her back was not the way to go." Anderson rubbed the back of his neck. "She didn't take the news very well."

"Did you think she would thank you?" Karin snapped, and then shook her head. "I'm sorry, you didn't deserve that."

"It's okay Karin; I know how you're feeling."

"Come on, we need to find Captain Shepard and then get to the gym." Karin shut-down her omni-tool as she moved off.

"Why is she back at the gym?"

"She said that she's going to hit things until she cools down and to – I quote – 'keep your people away'." Karin glanced at Anderson. "She might do something stupid David and we need to be there to keep her from doing so!"

* * *

When Mia arrived at the gym it had been empty; The Prospect was currently still dealing with an influx of arrivals, so she wasn't that surprised.

She'd managed to spend a few minutes warming up and then threw herself into a harsh training programme; one designed for high-level special forces. It was quite gruelling; 10k run, 10k bike-ride (which she had to be careful on), followed by short – but intense – holographic target run. In fact, she'd swapped the bike-ride to first; her claws could damage the bike and her feet (see had never worn shoes yet) also had slight claws to them, which could also cause some damage.

One thing she had noticed was that unlike humans, she didn't sweat. She got hot and tired but could recover quicker than humans and didn't need to drink water as often. This meant that, while this programme might be too advanced for at the moment, with a bit of training, she would be able to do it far quicker than probably everyone in the base.

Halfway into the bike-ride she could feel the burn in her legs. 'Maybe this was a mistake?' She thought to herself.

It was working to calm her down though, now instead of thinking if the humans were going to betray her, she was pushing her endurance; when she probably shouldn't thanks to nearly losing her leg only a few months ago.

Not that she cared at the moment.

She wasn't timing herself, though the programme itself would give her a time at the end. The bike beeped to let her know she had only a quarter-distance left to go. Mia felt the strain of the overuse of muscles but ignored it pushing on.

Without realising that she'd gotten that far, the bike beeped to let her know she was done. Getting of the bike turned her legs to jelly and she swayed on her feet for a moment. Once she had regained her balance, she jogged over to a treadmill. Before activating it she wondered momentarily if her clawed toes would damage it; before tapping it on – she was only allowed two minutes before the programme failed her automatically – and started the run.

It was soon apparent to her that doing this high-level task was most certainly a mistake.

The burn in her legs had been joined by a burn in her lungs; not to mention her entire left side twitched every so often.

And she still had just over 7k to go!

Digging deeper into her reserves of energy she felt something… _shift_.

A sudden flare of pain in the left-side of her chest made her stumble and fall, crashing into the treadmill as her own motion combined with the moving track, sent her slamming down onto her stomach.

Her face collided with the machines floor – the auto-stop was too slow and it sand-papered her cheek for a few seconds – and pushed herself backwards, yelling in pain. The agony flared again, this time on both sides.

Lifting her shirt to her eyes widen in utter horror.

Underneath her skin; something was _moving_!

* * *

Hannah was with Doctor Chakwas (who she knew was Mia's mother of a sort) and David. Both of them seemed to worried about Mia – which she understood after David had confessed that he'd mentioned some things that he'd been ordered not to, to the hybrid.

The trio had gone to Mia's room and retrieved her abandoned gym bag, which is when David had told her about what he'd done. She wasn't that surprised; the hybrid seemed to care for him, or at least, she trusted him. Doctor Chakwas – Karin s the woman keep saying – had convinced her to come with them to the gym; they intended to try and talk to the hybrid.

To get her to calm down before Admiral Hackett and the others tried to speak with her.

When they were just outside the gym, a crash and pained yell brought them all forward at a run.

Hannah's eyes widened when she saw Mia on the floor writhing in clear pain.

When she got closer, she had to stop in her tracks.

Mia's chest was _moving_.

* * *

Karin reacted first; she had darted forward and dropped to her knees next to Mia, while Hannah could only stand and watch.

Mia was clearly in pain, something was clearly not right; but she had no idea what to do!

"David, Captain; help me keep her still – and watch her claws!" Karin called to them.

David reacted slightly quicker, the both of them moving forward; her Mia's legs, gripping her ankles and trying to avoid the jerking, which would make her claws catch her arms. It was the same for David, her held Mia's wrists in one hand while trying to help keep the hybrid still with other.

It wasn't working; Mia was too strong for them and would soon break out of their grip. Karin didn't move from her side, whispering encouragement while running a scan.

While Hannah didn't understand the results that flashed up, Karin clearly didn't like what she saw. {_Doctor L'Sar, please report to the gym immediately and bring some strong sedatives!_} Karin practically shouted into her omni-tool as Mia groaned loudly in pain beside her.

Karin cupped Mia's face and looked into her eyes. "It's okay Mia, you are changing but don't worry, it is natural." Hannah didn't fail to notice that the hybrid's eyes were glowing brightly. "I need to sedate you; you're resisting the change and that is why it is hurting. You really need to calm down!"

Mia was clearly unable to calm down; she didn't know what the hell was happening to her!

Doctor L'Sar – followed by Nihlus, who had a weapon drawn – barrelled into the room.

The asari took one look at the readout on Karin's omni-tool. "Alright, she's adapting to something. It shouldn't be hurting her though, it's completely natural…" Confusion had arrived on the asari's face.

"I think she's resisting it subconsciously…" Karin started to reply but stopped when one of Mia's hands got free; she had to duck backwards to avoid getting clawed.

"I see why you asked for sedatives, while sedating her won't stop her subconscious mind; it will help." Dr. L'Sar passed the injector to Karin, and then flared with biotics to help keep Mia still.

Karin leans in when the biotics manage to pin the hybrid in place, though Hannah can hear the asari telling her to hurry.

It took a short while for the sedative to kick in; Mia clearly had a very strong system.

"Will she be alright?" Hannah asked as she pushed herself to her feet.

Dr L'Sar nodded. "Yes, but she clearly doesn't understand what is happening to her. This means that we'll need to keep a close eye on her."

"How close?" Karin asked; she had suspicion in her voice.

"Not _that_ close Dr Chakwas, I want to make sure that she's okay just as much as you do." Hannah didn't quite believe that. "The simple fact is that she's unlike anything that we've encountered before – we have to be careful."

"I agree with being careful." Karin crossed her arms. "She is my responsibility, if anything happens that I don't like…"

"You will be with me all the time Doctor; you have nothing to worry about." Dr. L'Sar interrupted. "Now, let's get her to a medical bay."

Karin shook her head; she had a protective look on her face. "To her room, she'll feel safer there and we have medical equipment there already."

The asari did not reply, she just nodded and signalled for Nihlus to help them carry Mia.

"Captain, might I have a word please?" It was Admiral Hackett; Hannah was waiting outside Mia's room while the doctors worked.

She looked at him and nodded, following him out of ear-shot of the Turian, which was a fair way down the hall.

"What is it Sir?" She asked, standing to attention.

"At ease, Shepard." Hackett smiled at her when she dropped into parade-rest. "I'll get straight to the point – what do _you_ think of this hybrid, this Mia?"

"Honestly sir, in the short time I spent talking to her, she came across as friendly – if a little scared."

Hackett nodded. "I see I have yet to speak to her face to face; though I have seen some footage of her." He waved a hand slightly. "Though from what I've read, she deserves a chance."

Hannah had thought the same but had been unsure about the Admirals stance. "I agree with you sir; she needs time and care…"

"Udina doesn't agree with that." Hackett cut in. "He thinks we should either kill her or experiment on her."

Hannah gasped. "But he's never even met her!"

"Like that means anything to that snake…" The Admiral muttered, and then louder. "I can keep him away; he's on his own on this one so far. The rest of the Brass was wary when news of her reached them; until the reports of what she'd been through and her rapport with Dr. Chakwas came in. The relationship between them is, quite frankly, amazing – especially in such a short time."

"Well, I think I understand why that is, sir." Hannah started; Hackett had nodded for her to continue. "Karin was the first one to treat her like a human – well, maybe not human, but a person."

"That was how I viewed it as well." Hackett smiled slightly. "When Mia is up to talking, please let me know."

"I will do sir." Hannah saluted, which was returned, and Hackett moved off down the corridor away from Mia's room – likely to go meet with Udina about the situation.

She walked back to Mia's room and she must have looked worried as Nihlus spoke. "Are you alright Captain?"

She looked up at him in surprise; he was tall even for a Turian. "Yes, I'm fine. I'm just worried about Mia."

His mandibles twitched slightly. "She has gained quite a few peoples loyalty in quite a short time." It wasn't said was any malicious intent that she could hear.

"That's because we feel for her, for what she's suffered." Hannah leaned on the wall next to the big Turian. "She tries very hard not to show it, but she's haunted by what they did to her."

"Yes, she does appear to be trying very hard to fit in; it is very admirable." Nihlus glanced at her. "What do you think of her?"

She cannot help the small laugh, which causes Nihlus to tilt his head. "Sorry, it's just that I've been asked that question more times that I can count today!"

To her surprise Nihlus laughs back. "I guess you have. I don't need you to answer; I already know your feelings on this matter."

"When you report to the Council, what do you think you'll say?"

"I cannot tell you I'm afraid; though so far my impression of her is quite… positive."

Hannah smiled mostly to herself. "That's good news."

"What of the Alliance do you intend to make her a citizen?" Nihlus asked, with his flanged voice it was hard to tell if there was any greater meaning behind the question.

"I don't know I'm not high up enough to know that sort of thing; though personally, I hope they do."

At that moment, the door opened and Karin signalled that it was okay for them to come in.

* * *

The world was fuzzy again, Mia thought to herself. Then the memories came flooding back, the pain… her chest!

She tried to move but everything was heavy and slow, the room was blurred; she knew enough to know that she was coming out of being sedated. She had been held down by the asari, one she didn't know, and Karin had injected her with some really strong sedatives. Beyond that, her memory was a bit off.

Someone must have seen her try to move as a cool hand touched her arm. "Slowly Mia, slowly." She didn't know the voice.

Looking around a blue blur came into focus – it was that asari; where was Karin?!

"It's okay my dear, you are fine." Karin spoke from the other side of the bed, she was nearer the door. "Do you know what happened?"

She shook her head, which made it throb. "No, I don't. One moment I was on the treadmill, the next… pain flared up; so much so that I fell."

"Mia, the reason for that pain was that your mind was resisting changes occurring…"

She cut in, interrupting Karin. "Changes? What do you mean?"

"You're mostly Zerg my dear, in DNA terms anyway." Karin smiled warmly. "The exercise that you were doing was too much for your previous lung-capacity. So your body… evolved to meet these requirements."

She had a blank look on her face, and the asari spoke. "Now, normally such changes don't happen so quickly, they take a few days. But I think that you were pushing yourself and forced the changes to occur rapidly; which your mind got… confused about and resisted; which caused you physical pain."

"I can change my body?" Surprise laced her voice.

"Yes, as a hybrid, you have the Zerg ability to mutate to fit a situation." The asari spoke again. "This ability is quite powerful as you potentially could "evolve" pretty much anything."

"Like an extra limb?" Mia understood what she was getting at, she didn't why, but she did – it must be ingrained in me… genetic memory or something.

Karin laughs. "Yes, even that if you put your mind to it! Though you will need to have access to certain DNA sources, or samples, to evolve certain things – like the extra limb."

"This might sound odd but I know what you're talking about… I don't know why, I just _do_."

The asari nods. "Unsurprising, the need and ability to evolve is built into the genetic memory of all Zerg. If you _didn't_ have the urge then I'd be worried."

Mia tilted her head slightly. "So, how do I get these changes to happen? And how do I control them?"

Karin smiled and patted her arm. "Well, the best we can figure out is that you are able to 'view' DNA. Not in a literal sense of course, just able to sense what is useful and what isn't. With this you should be able to alter your body by integrating this new DNA – or biomass, the best sources would be meat; or hair; or nail clippings for example." She looked at the asari, who continued.

"As for controlling it… well, you already can. It is normally something that happens in your subconscious. You can force changes to happen – like with your exercising incident – but you must not resist these changes. The pain, as you know, will be very intense."

Mia nodded and looked down at herself. "I don't really _feel_ any different for it."

"You won't notice most of the changes that occur." The asari moved and brought up a graph on her omni-tool. "Your lung capacity has increased threefold, which you might not notice as your body will simply keep going during the changes." She switched off her omni-tool and looked at Karin.

"You may, however, notice an increase in your appetite during these changes." Karin spoke again, it seemed almost rehearsed. "This is nothing to worry about. It's simply your body taking on extra fuel for the changes."

She looked at Karin and smiled. "Well, with you around to help, I shouldn't have much to worry about."

Karin chuckled. "Let's hope it stays that way my dear!"

Mia forced herself to become a bit more serious. "What about this meeting I heard about…"

"Oh _that_." To her surprise it was that Turian she didn't know that spoke up. "To be honest, after reviewing things here my report is going to be very positive. That said though, I do still need to talk you in private."

"What about now?" She replied, looking at Karin; who nodded.

"Nothing stopping you Mia, we only sedated you for the pain at the time." Karin rubbed her arm gently. "Don't over do it though; you are powerful but not invincible."

Mia nodded. "I know. The way my leg was when you found me is testament to this."

Karin signalled for the others to follow her out, though Hannah holds back a moment.

"Mia, I just want to say thanks for taking care of my gear."

"Don't worry about it. I guess meeting me was a bit of a shock."

"Ha! Yes, it was! Even so, thank you. Hybrid or no, I owe you one." Seeing Mia's blank look she tried to explain. "You did a little something for me, so in the future I will return the favour."

Mia gasped and nodded. "I see, so if I forgot my bag you'd bring it to me."

"Close enough!" Hannah surprised her slightly by hugging her. "Speak to you soon."

* * *

After Hannah had also left the room, Nihlus moved and stood by her. Mia swung her legs around, pushing herself upright; she was a little stiff but nothing serious.

"Well Mia, the simple fact is that my report to The Council will determine their reaction to you. By this I mean what sanctions they will take against either you, or the Alliance." He crossed his arms as he looked at her; his eyes seemed to be looking at her "hair".

"How much impact would this have on my life?"

"Potentially a massive amount, if my report was negative they might demand you be handed over to them; what whatever reason." The Turian gestured at her. "That said, based on my first impressions of you, you seem quite… grounded."

It took her a few moments to figure out what he meant. "Oh, well that is thanks to Karin… Dr Chakwas. Without her I _would_ be less grounded, as you say." She brushed her hair tendrils back. "I won't lie… it hurts like hell here and here." She pointed to her head, and then her heart. "I know I'm not human. I never will be anything like Karin. I still don't know what to make of some… things."

"Understandable. Given your nature and past experiences, you are within your rights to be angry with humans." Nihlus sounded more serious than before, it was a subtle shift in his sub-harmonics; something that humans couldn't hear but she could.

"Yes, I could be that is true. Yet what would that gain me?" She jerked her head at him. "Not every human was involved, so why should I tarnish them all with the same brush? It's hard _not_ to think that way at times…" She drifted off; her voice had become laced with pain; which didn't go unnoticed.

"I'm not trying to upset you Mia; I'm trying to figure you out." His mandibles twitched. "I cannot judge you in the wrong for fighting back; if it had been a Turian in your position you can be damn sure that we'd burn that place to the ground."

She couldn't help the snort of laughter. "Anderson said pretty much the same thing to me, as did Karin – many times."

"My first report will be sent in a few days. I'll be following you closely until then." Nihlus turned to leave; apparently he had what he needed in their short exchange.

"What happens then?"

Nihlus looked back at her. "Then Mia, the Council will either approve or deny my suggestions. I cannot say more."

"And what of the Alliance; what do they plan on doing?" She was terrified and it was clear.

"I don't know Mia, I really don't. You have made some powerful friends though, so you should be safe." He nodded at her before taking his leave.

When he was gone Mia sunk down onto the floor next to her bed. Though it sounded positive… she was still terrified of what was to come. Tears came to her eyes as she held up her clawed hands, viewing them carefully.

"I'm not going to run… not unless I really have to." She spoke to herself, placing her head in her hands.

Things had to get better. They just _had_ to.

* * *

A/N2: The next chapter has yet to get underway but I'm planning to work on it tomorrow and some of next week. It might take a while for it to get sorted, so it could be a few weeks until it's posted.

Thanks again for the support!


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